pandas.DataFrame.stack

DataFrame.stack(level=-1, dropna=True)

Stack the prescribed level(s) from columns to index.

Return a reshaped DataFrame or Series having a multi-level index with one or more new inner-most levels compared to the current DataFrame. The new inner-most levels are created by pivoting the columns of the current dataframe:

• if the columns have a single level, the output is a Series;
• if the columns have multiple levels, the new index level(s) is (are) taken from the prescribed level(s) and the output is a DataFrame.

The new index levels are sorted.

Parameters:

level : int, str, list, default -1

Level(s) to stack from the column axis onto the index axis, defined as one index or label, or a list of indices or labels.

dropna : bool, default True

Whether to drop rows in the resulting Frame/Series with missing values. Stacking a column level onto the index axis can create combinations of index and column values that are missing from the original dataframe. See Examples section.

Returns:

DataFrame or Series

Stacked dataframe or series.

See also

DataFrame.unstack

Unstack prescribed level(s) from index axis onto column axis.

DataFrame.pivot

Reshape dataframe from long format to wide format.

DataFrame.pivot_table

Create a spreadsheet-style pivot table as a DataFrame.

Notes

The function is named by analogy with a collection of books being re-organised from being side by side on a horizontal position (the columns of the dataframe) to being stacked vertically on top of of each other (in the index of the dataframe).

Examples

Single level columns

>>> df_single_level_cols = pd.DataFrame([[0, 1], [2, 3]],
...                                     index=['cat', 'dog'],
...                                     columns=['weight', 'height'])

Stacking a dataframe with a single level column axis returns a Series:

>>> df_single_level_cols
     weight height
cat       0      1
dog       2      3
>>> df_single_level_cols.stack()
cat  weight    0
     height    1
dog  weight    2
     height    3
dtype: int64

Multi level columns: simple case

>>> multicol1 = pd.MultiIndex.from_tuples([('weight', 'kg'),
...                                        ('weight', 'pounds')])
>>> df_multi_level_cols1 = pd.DataFrame([[1, 2], [2, 4]],
...                                     index=['cat', 'dog'],
...                                     columns=multicol1)

Stacking a dataframe with a multi-level column axis:

>>> df_multi_level_cols1
     weight
         kg    pounds
cat       1        2
dog       2        4
>>> df_multi_level_cols1.stack()
            weight
cat kg           1
    pounds       2
dog kg           2
    pounds       4

Missing values

>>> multicol2 = pd.MultiIndex.from_tuples([('weight', 'kg'),
...                                        ('height', 'm')])
>>> df_multi_level_cols2 = pd.DataFrame([[1.0, 2.0], [3.0, 4.0]],
...                                     index=['cat', 'dog'],
...                                     columns=multicol2)

It is common to have missing values when stacking a dataframe with multi-level columns, as the stacked dataframe typically has more values than the original dataframe. Missing values are filled with NaNs:

>>> df_multi_level_cols2
    weight height
        kg      m
cat    1.0    2.0
dog    3.0    4.0
>>> df_multi_level_cols2.stack()
        height  weight
cat kg     NaN     1.0
    m      2.0     NaN
dog kg     NaN     3.0
    m      4.0     NaN

Prescribing the level(s) to be stacked

The first parameter controls which level or levels are stacked:

>>> df_multi_level_cols2.stack(0)
             kg    m
cat height  NaN  2.0
    weight  1.0  NaN
dog height  NaN  4.0
    weight  3.0  NaN
>>> df_multi_level_cols2.stack([0, 1])
cat  height  m     2.0
     weight  kg    1.0
dog  height  m     4.0
     weight  kg    3.0
dtype: float64

Dropping missing values

>>> df_multi_level_cols3 = pd.DataFrame([[None, 1.0], [2.0, 3.0]],
...                                     index=['cat', 'dog'],
...                                     columns=multicol2)

Note that rows where all values are missing are dropped by default but this behaviour can be controlled via the dropna keyword parameter:

>>> df_multi_level_cols3
    weight height
        kg      m
cat    NaN    1.0
dog    2.0    3.0
>>> df_multi_level_cols3.stack(dropna=False)
        height  weight
cat kg     NaN     NaN
    m      1.0     NaN
dog kg     NaN     2.0
    m      3.0     NaN
>>> df_multi_level_cols3.stack(dropna=True)
        height  weight
cat m      1.0     NaN
dog kg     NaN     2.0
    m      3.0     NaN